When a shopping experience goes wrong – a retailer goes bust or disappears without delivering your goods – it can pay to have paid on plastic. Purchases made on credit cards and debit cards have protections that are not available if you pay with cash. These apply whether the purchases are goods or services.

Section 75

Photograph: Alan Schein Photography

If you have a problem with a purchase made by credit card or via a credit agreement offered by a retailer, you may be protected under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This makes the credit provider jointly liable with the retailer for anything you buy, provided the item costs between £100 and £30,000.

The protection covers undelivered and faulty goods, and services such as flights, if the retailer goes out of business or disappears. It applies to purchases made overseas, and to those made online or by phone from an overseas retailer.

To make use of section 75 you only need to put the deposit for the purchase on your card, not the whole cost.

Chargeback

Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Purchases made on debit or prepaid cards or chargecards are not covered by section 75. Neither are purchases on credit cards that are worth less than £100 or more than £30,000. However, your card provider may offer chargeback.

This allows customers to claim back money if the goods do not arrive or are faulty, or where the retailer has gone bust. Visa, Mastercard and American Express all offer chargeback schemes.

Visa's scheme

• The cover applies to Visa debit cards, prepaid cards and Visa Electron cards, and purchases made on a Visa credit card which don't qualify for section 75 cover

• There is no upper limit on spending

• There is a 120-day limit on claims which starts "the day you are aware of a problem". When an airline goes bust, the countdown starts on the day that the flight was due to depart; when a retailer goes out of business the time limit starts "the day the cardholder is made aware that the supplier is unwilling or unable to provide the goods"

• The cover applies to Mastercard debit cards, prepaid cards and Maestro cards, and to purchases made on a Mastercard credit card which don't qualify for section 75 cover

• There is a minimum spend of £10 but no upper limit on spending

• There is a 120-day limit on claims which is "typically the expected delivery date of the goods or services not provided"

• Claims must be made to your bank, not to Mastercard

• The cover applies to transactions in the UK and overseas

American Express's scheme

• The cover applies to American Express charge cards, and to purchases made on an American Express credit card which don't qualify for section 75 cover

• There is a 120-day limit on claims. Where the claim relates to a company that has gone out of business, the period starts on the day it announces it is going into administration; when a holiday has been booked, the period starts on the day of travel

These chargeback schemes are voluntary – unlike section 75 which is set in law – but do not be put off if the person you speak to at the bank claims to know nothing about them.